The Definitive Truth
by Vixen Schmixen
Summary: Chapters 1 - 6 together. Relena is dead, but she isn't quite gone...How will her death affect those around her, but was she real? Who is Fleur Tollian?


The Truth

By Vixen Schmixen

Rating PG at the moment

But I am a sassy lemon authoress…eheh heh

Heero shifted uneasily against the wall he was leaning on. Why did she have to do things like this? She KNEW anti-pacifist militia patrolled the skies around Sank, so why couldn't she have used another mode of transport other than her jet? He glanced over at the jet. It was a beautiful aircraft, no doubt about that, but…

Heero squinted as a fighter ripped across the sky thousands of feet above. Dangerous. Too dangerous. She was notorious for taking risks, but usually only on her own. By doing this she was endangering all of the crew as well. He'd thought she was intelligent. She'd proven she was intelligent, but to go and do something like this… 

Heero caught the eye of the other civilian lookout, standing by the landing ramp. He saw the same disbelief in his eyes. This wasn't a risk, this was recklessness, and it wasn't like her.

It was dark inside the plane, and neither Heero, nor any members of the small crowd gathered could see into the plane. As a matter of fact, all the spectators were on the left side of the plane, and he couldn't see around the other side.

Strictly speaking, he wasn't supposed to be here. No-one had asked or ordered him to come, but it was making use of his training by being there. He was dressed casually in a blue T-shirt and black jeans, with his distinctive mop of chocolate-brown hair hidden under a baseball cap. The cap had been Duo's idea, but it had been a good one. He couldn't afford to make himself stand out.

It wasn't his job to protect Relena anymore, but it made him feel needed. She was an innocent, a civilian. Heero wished for an instant that he had someone who understood him. Yes, Relena was in awe of him, but it wasn't the same. She hadn't been through what he had to become who he was. He assumed she'd been born the way she was. No, he should be thankful that no-one else had ever had to suffer the same things he had.

'Look!' 

'There she is!'

'Minister Darlian! Minister!'

The cries rang from the audience like a litter of puppies begging for attention from their mistress. Relena was flanked by the head of her bodyguard and the Vice-Minister, Paulo Hoseas, a tall arrogant Argentinean man.

Relena waved to the crowd, smiling, then began to board the plane, but before she had taken one step, she spun around and gripped her head bodyguard in a hug.

'Hey!' protested the woman, but then returned the hug with a smile, before asking, 'what was that for?' She was surprised to see the beginnings of tears in Relena's eyes.

'You've been a great friend, Hilde, and I just wanted to say thank you.'

'You're coming back, right?' Hilde smiled.

Relena nodded, 'Hope so,' she grinned, then waved one more time to the crowds, who cheered their leader, before the door slid closed. There was another bang, which Heero assumed was the boarding stairs being uncoupled.

Heero sighed a small sigh. Halfway there. No-one had shot her. Now the damn plane had to get to wherever it was going. He and Trowa had gone over their plans several times. They'd wait until the plane was several kilometres into its journey, then follow it under cloak, just to make sure nothing could get close. They'd done it dozens of times before, but this would by the most dangerous time.

The jet gently left the airstrip and was soon enveloped in cloud.

Heero caught Trowa's eye again and motioned for him to rejoin them back outside. Trowa nodded, and began to walk towards him.

Suddenly Heero spotted something odd. An air-stewardess was walking away from the airstrip as well. One he'd been sure was on the plane. She was wearing a distinctive yellow bracelet. As she passed him without a backward glance, Heero dismissed the notion. How could she have possibly have got off? He may not have been able to see the other side of the plane, but he had been able to see under it. He watched as the airport staff began to pull the boarding stairs back into the garage ready for the next flight. Trowa rejoined him.

'Nice outfit Yuy,' he muttered. He was wearing an airport uniform.

'The cap? Duo's idea. We'll just see the plane out of the militia zone, then…'

Screams had suddenly erupted from the remaining crowd. As Relena's jet broke out of the low-lying cloud that was hugging the coastline and began to speed up as it flew over the sea, a small fighter, which had obviously used the cloud as cover, was tailing it.

Heero and Trowa could do nothing but watch.

It wasn't a normal atmospheric fighter. It looked like a V(acuum) model, meant for space combat, but still deadly within the Earthsphere, in close range. Its laser beams tended to diffract due to air resistance, but its superior speed made up for that. 

This model was different from others that Heero had seen. It had the raking forward twin buster cannons; one on each side, but it also had several extra features. It was midnight blue, unlike most others models which were white, with a distinctive crest of spikes on top and jutting out at the sides. These quickly retracted and the fighter began to close in on its prey.

The jet attempted to accelerate, but it was hopeless. The fighter's first shot ripped open the fuselage. The second only acted to magnify the huge ball of flames that the jet had become. The third and final shot knocked the hind section clear of the rest of the plane, igniting the fuel in the tanks.

The orange blast illuminated sixty horrified disbelieving faces. Not a single large part was visible of what 10 minutes earlier had been a jet full of people. Smoke began to drift up and away.

Children began to cry, and hugged their mothers, and the men looked shell-shocked.

Heero's face showed no emotion. Trowa's didn't either.

'We didn't contemplate this…' began Trowa, but Heero interrupted.

'…but we should have, and now its too late. She's gone, they're all gone.'

They turned and began towards their car, neither one believing what they had just witnessed.

Relena Darlian was dead.

****************

Vixen: *growls* No the fic isn't over damnit! No lemons yet, ooh aah *Gloucester farmer* I come from Glaaaaaaster, aaah. *coughs* anyway, so much more to come! Email me! Lemon underscore goddess at hotmail dot com or lemon_goddess@hotmail.com 

Think of this as the commercial break *^_~* I was gonna have this in lotsa parts, but I want people to actually read this… and since I don't know how to make it appear at the top on FF.net again…anybody know how? When you review can you tell me…Puwease?

The Truth Part 2

By Vixen Schmixen

Rating PG-13 for language, but hell, I bet you've all heard worse…

'This is so boring!'

'Quiet Duo.'

'Hmph!' Duo folded his arms and looked out into the sky outside. The aeroplane could fly itself, so he didn't have to do anything except sulk. Which he did.

'If you're so bored, why don't you inspect the passengers again?'

'Heero, forget it. This rogue secret service guy we're after? Not here. Why would he be here anyway?'

'He's out for revenge.'

Duo unfolded his arms and sat bolt upright.

'Against who? Us?'

'I don't know. I think it's against a member of Necsa.'

'Fucking Necsa,' groaned Duo, meaning the National Earthsphere and Colony Surveillance Agency, 'you means there's a Necsa agent on this plane as well?'

'I guess so.'

'Okay, one more look…' Duo got up out of his seat and out of the cockpit.

Heero stretched his neck and continued to stare straight ahead. This was what they did now. There were jumped-up security guards. This, however, was slightly more interesting. He didn't quite know why they'd been called in to protect a Necsa agent. They generally knew how to look after themselves as well as people like him did. It was probably to protect the other passengers on the plane…

Duo strolled nonchalantly down the aisle, his tell-tale ponytail hidden under his airline hat. He returned passengers' smiles as he walked to the back of the plane, where the toilets were. A few people caught his eye. One was a man of about 30, and another a man of about 20. He couldn't decide which of the two looked more suspicious.

He felt a hand on his sleeve, and looked down. A woman of around 21 was smiling at him. She was wearing a dark blue blazer, and what could have been either a white T-shirt or a blouse under it. She was also wearing trousers. She had an open organiser on her lap, and looked at him through blue eyes.

'Sorry to bother you, but will the trolley be coming back?'

Duo tried to speak, but it was a couple of attempts before words came out. _She's cute._

'N-No ma'am, we're only a few kilometres from Sank.'

The gentle smile never wavered.

'Oh, all right then. Thank you for your time.' She looked back to her organiser. Duo noticed that the page she had open had 'BE CAUTIOUS' scribbled across it. The woman noticed him looking and slowly closed the file.

'My manager,' she explained, 'always afraid that some mugger'll grab me whenever I come to Sank on his business.'

'Oh yeah?' Duo smiled and began to walk back to the cockpit. 

***

'Well?' asked Heero as Duo crashed into the seat next to his. He scowled a little. Why was Duo incapable of sitting down quietly?

'A couple I'd watch…' Duo began, then hesitated. Should he mention the woman? Oh, by the way Heero, there's this really cute girl as well…No, not a good idea. 

The plane began to descend. Lights blinked at Heero, and he did all the right things. He always did. The plane taxied to a stop. Duo was about to make the announcement about 'Thanks for flying with us,' and all that, when the chatter and buzz of voices from the passengers fizzled out completely. Duo looked at Heero.

'Uh oh,' he mouthed.

A man had stood up. He was wearing a large T-shirt and jeans. He was holding a gun.

'Thank you for flying with me, ladies and gentlemen,' he growled, 'and I'll try and keep this quick.'

His eyes narrowed.

'Where are you?' he snarled, his eyes sweeping the terrified crew and passengers of the plane, coming to rest on Heero and Duo.

'I wouldn't try anything if I were you. I can shoot a lot of people before you can get to me…'

Duo noticed the woman again. He couldn't figure out why she kept catching his eye. She had taken her blazer off a few minutes previously. She was staring at the man with the same kind of bemused terror as the rest of the passengers.

Suddenly a child screamed, and was quickly quietened by its mother. The man suddenly moved. He grabbed the girl Duo had been watching and put the gun up against the side of her head.

'Tell me where he is or she dies,' he said darkly. Silence.

Suddenly there was a flurry of movement. The girl swung her elbow back hard into the man's ribs. He gasped and his shot went wide. A hole appeared in the roof of the plane. People screamed. The girl kicked out and sent her attacker to the floor. He attempted to get up and found he was snout to snout with an old Glock. 

'Think real carefully,' said the girl. He thought. He stayed. Hate burned in his eyes.

'You. You ruined my life!'

'Nothing personal,' said the girl, 'hope you understand. Get up.'

He got up. Without looking away, the girl said, 'I could do with a hand right now.'

Duo looked at Heero.

'Does she mean us?'

Heero had gone. He drew his own gun and trained it on the terrorist. The girl turned and reached into her bag, and withdrew a pair of restraints. 

She put them on the man's wrists, and he tried to spit at her.

'Who are you?' he muttered.

'Fleur Tollian, Necsa.'

'Fucking Necsa,' the man groaned, 'I'll kill you one day, you know.'

This didn't faze the girl.

'Get in line,' she said quietly, then led the man in her custody off the plane.

Heero returned to Duo's side.

'You didn't pick her out?'

Duo dragged his fingers through his hair, having removed that dumb hat.

'I even spoke to her! She was completely normal!'

'Normal people can't do that, Duo.'

'Yeah, I know. Heero…did she look…ano…familiar?'

Heero thought about it.

'Yeah, she looked like Relena didn't she?'

'Weird that.'

'Yeah.'

****************

Vixen: Yeah, weird. Even I don't know what's gonna happen…

Heero & Duo: O_O

Vixen: Whaddya guys think for my first lemon?

Heero: *blinks* Lemon?

Duo: Where?

Vixen: *sighs*

Heero: Hey, you better not set me up with that psychopathic Relena look-a-like…

Vixen: Well…

Duo: *snort*

Heero: If that girl turns out to be Relena, I'm leaving the set…Hang on. Relena's dead.

Vixen: Yes, she certainly is.

Heero: *relieved* Good.

Duo: Hey, I could get the lemon, not you, remember? I'm here too!

Vixen: Hm…Now I've gotta decide which one of you gets the lemon…

Duo: Me!

Heero: -.-

Duo: Me! ME! MEMEMEME!

Heero: -.-

Vixen: Hmm…Now, all you readers. Gonna review?(A.N. Ignore this, just enjoy the banter, it's left over from when I has it split into parts…) 

*silence, tumbleweed blows past, death-knell rings*

Vixen: *sighs* Why do they always wanna do it the hard way? Heero? If you would be so kind?

Heero: *points gun towards readers*

Vixen: *sweetly* Gonna review a bit later?

Heero: You don't have to, you know. *safety off. Click*

Reader: *scarpers away to review*

Heero: *puts gun away*

Duo: How come he always gets to do that?

Vixen: Because you're not scary.

Duo: *cries*

Vixen & Heero: -.-

Vixen: How scary is THAT?

***********************

The Truth Part 3

By Vixen Schmixen

Duo: Grrrrrrr…

Vixen: Duo?

Duo: *claws* Grrrrrrrargh!

Vixen: Um…

Duo: MWAHAHAHAHA…

Vixen: Eeeeep! *bolts*

Heero: Better.

Duo: Thanks man.

Police arrived at the scene, even though the party was over. Fleur and her prisoner had been gone a long time. They busied themselves by asking the shaken passengers questions.

'Hey Heero.'

Duo walked over to his partner.

'What?' Heero noticed that he was leaning against the same wall he had been leaning against nearly three years ago. What a stupid thing to remember.

'Turns out they're gonna halve our pay 'cos the tub got damaged,' grumbled Duo.

Heero shrugged.

'It wasn't our fault,' he said.

'Apparently the protection we were supposed to instate covered the plane as well.'

Duo followed Heero's gaze. They watched as the same girl who had apprehended the armed terrorist stepped out of a side building. She had been relieved of her charge, and now a taller man was following close behind her. He seemed to be in charge.

They were too far away to lip-read, and the wind carried the voices away from them, but it was obvious that an argument was going on.

The woman spun around and quite obviously glared at her superior, who backed off. A few more words were exchanged.

'What's going on down there?' muttered Duo to himself, as the girl was presented with a keycard. She hailed a taxi, got into it, and drove off.

'Whatever's happening, what happened today affects all of us, not just Necsa. We need to tell the others about this Fleur.' 

***

'What? A woman?' Wufei was in outrage.

'Yes, Wufei,' said Duo as patiently as he could, 'a woman called Fleur Trillian…'

'Tollian…' Heero corrected without looking up.

'…whatever.' Duo sighed. 'Heero says we have to check her out.'

Heero snapped the portable computer shut.

'Nothing?' asked Duo. He shook his head.

'She was never born.'

'Hey that doesn't mean anything, 'cos didn't you erase all your details?'

Wufei glared at Duo.

'This is only Necsa, not Operation Meteor, Maxwell…'

The door banged open. Heero's hand was already on his gun when a stranger walked in. He bore a terrible resemblance to the late Vice-Minister of the colonies. Very odd.

'Put that away Mr. Yuy,' he stated, as he withdrew a card. Duo stepped forward and took it. Heero didn't budge.

'It says Peter Juno, Head of N.E.C.S.A.' He pronounced every letter separately, as if ashamed to use the acronym of the company.

'I'm here at the request of one of my agents, whom I believe you've met,' he said coldly.

'You're her boss?' enquired Duo.

'She's a bit of a rogue, I'm afraid. She got on that flight despite my best efforts to prevent her. She has a very stubborn streak.'

The man's eyes were inhuman as he spoke his next words.

'We've really tried to force out this behaviour, but as you can see, I'm afraid it carries on…' 

None of them were left in any doubt that he was using the word 'force' literally.

'The thing is,' he continued, sitting down, 'Fleur was wasted in Necsa, she was always more cut out for the taking action part of the war.'

'Was Necsa operating during the war?' asked Duo. Juno nodded.

'That's what we do, Mr. Maxwell, we observe. In Fleur's case, it was only sensible to give her the project that was most in contact with the running of things, but something went wrong, and Fleur's project was terminated.'

'Hang on…what's a project to you guys?' muttered Duo, sitting down as well but never lowering his guard.

'In layman's terms, we're spies, but we go beyond that, we also control. Fleur's project…'

'…that's just it, what was her 'project'? How do these 'projects' work?'

'We infiltrate, instate characters that previously didn't exist. Fleur was an exception in that her project lasted a long time. Nearly five years. That's very unusual. The norm is around eighteen months.'

'You still haven't answered his question,' said Heero levelly, 'what was Fleur's project?'

The man leant back. 'Ahhh…Fleur. She was going to be our triumph. Nothing so dangerously obvious had ever been tried before. We had to create an entire family for her, and get them involved in the current affairs, which took time, but once it was done, that was when Fleur became useful.'

He smiled. It wasn't nice to behold. 'The agent who played her father withdrew in a clever death-fake incident, and her mother faded into obscurity, leaving only Fleur's character. However, the entire matter spiralled out of control, and Fleur was overcome by the proportions of her task. It left her too exhausted to be of any more use to us. In normal circumstances, we would delete the agent, but as she was still playing her part, we had to kill her character first. She did this, and even I haven't seen her up until now, she simply vanished.'

There was a silence. The three pilots inwardly digested the information. Wufei spoke next.

'Why are you telling us about this?'

'Fleur felt it was fair, and that it would save you time looking through the colony birth databases to find her.'

Heero didn't even blink.

'Did you find out what she's doing now?'

'Dodging people with grudges against her, mostly. She still has her two modes of transport, so in effect, she could be anywhere. She didn't ask me to say this,' he added, leaning forward, 'but she's a very useful contact to have. She can blend in anywhere, and is up for everything. So she should be, she was trained by the same person who trained you.'

After dropping this bombshell, the man swiftly left. Duo began after him, but Heero stopped him.

'Let him go, we've got the information we need.'

'But Heero…' Duo didn't finish the sentence, it was obvious the subject was closed.

Wufei's pager bleeped. He cursed and grabbed at it. He read the few words.

'New job,' he muttered, 'let's go.'

In five minutes the room was empty.

*****************************

Vixen: OK, you got me, but there will be a lemon soon.

Duo: Grrrr…

Vixen: Please shut up, 'cos I've only just figured out that that's you tryin' t'be scary.

Duo: Awww…

Vixen: Argh! No! Not the puppy face!

Duo: *puppy face*

Vixen: *squeals* Awwww poor Du-chan! *hugs him tight and starts to cry*

Heero: What are you looking so smug about Maxwell?

Duo: *grins* Jealous?

Heero: VIXEN! Snap out of it quick before Duo tries it on!

Vixen: Huh? Oh God! *pushes Duo away* *blushes* Damn you and your puppy face Maxwell.

Duo: Heh heh heh.

Comments? lemon_goddess@hotmail.com 

***********************************

The Truth Part 4

Rating: PG-13 still…

By Vixen Schmixen

'Some great contact this Fleur is…' muttered Duo, collapsing into the chair, 'it's been two months!'

'You don't really expect her to get into contact with us, do you Duo? Why the hell would she do that?' Wufei flicked channels.

'Dunno, someone to talk to I guess. Anyway, that Juno guy never told us which of the Developers trained her. He just said "you".'

A pager bleep interrupted the conversation.

'Hey!' cried Duo, making Wufei jump, 'this is a bit weird, we've been called to disable a low-flying fighter over Hochcity.'

'Whadda we care about Hochicky?' muttered Wufei. Dammit, he could never pronounce the name of that city.

'Hoch-city,' repeated Duo.

'Hang on,' perked up Wufei, 'what do they mean disable?'

'That's the thing! Read it!'

Wufei read it, then looked up. His dark eyes were sparkling.

'Let's go then, sounds good. Heero, are you in?'

Heero looked up. Over the past few years, the youth had gone from his eyes, but he still had a loyalty to the mission.

He nodded.

*********

The fighter was definitely low. It skimmed the trees of the suburbs as it frantically whizzed around. It seemed to have gone mad. It zigged and zagged, as if dodging an unseen enemy. It was white, the accepted colour of fighter jets. The three ex-Gundam pilots quickly laid a trap for the rogue fighter. Heero tailed it around 100m back, while Duo and Wufei laid in ambush in the nearby woods. The city of Hoch lay behind them.

The pilot of the fighter saw the trap and hung a sharp left, then fired. Heero dodged the shot, and was about to retaliate when his own fighter's sensors lit up. There was something behind him! Something huge! He spun around and powered straight up.

'Shit! An airliner!'

Duo was half right. It was definitely the size of an airliner, but it was 100% on the offensive.

Now that their original target had knocked its pursuer's cloak off-line, the shots it had been dodging were visible. Obviously focused shots. Focused weapons were relatively new. They would only damage their programmed target, which explained the lack of burned trees and charred ground from shots that had missed.

'Woah! Who do we help?' Duo yelped, as the enormous fighter began to close in on the seemingly tiny rogue jet.

Heero did some light speed thinking.

'No one, just follow!'

****************

The pilot of the fighter playing the role of rabbit gripped the control stick. It was only a matter of time. The more powerful fighter would eventually catch up, and then the little machine was as good as destroyed.

Or even worse, (the grip on the stick shifted) they could shoot it down…and get everything inside. Everything that needed to be protected. 

No. They wouldn't get it. What they wanted would remain out of their hands. Taking a terrible risk, the pilot locked the controls and dashed down the small corridor. They were soon back, with something small and green under their arm. A smile formed. Now it was safe.

The time came. The last shot knocked off a cannon and an engine. The fighter spiralled sickeningly before plunging into the ground. The high-speed chase had taken them far from the city. The larger fighter landed a short distance away.

'What do we do?' Duo, Heero and Wufei had cloaked and were hovering nearby.

'Wait. We'll soon discover who needs our aid.' Heero watched the scene unfolding.

*************

The pilot of the fallen fighter forced the door open. Death wasn't a certainty, at least not if the door was open. The green box was still tucked close to them.

*************

'What happens n…' began Duo.

Light erupted from the little fighter. The panels were blown off. The entire ship was consumed by the enormous ball of flame that followed, belching up into the sky. 

'He self-destructed…' muttered Wufei to himself, 'I wonder what he had that they wanted.'

*************

People began to pour from the airliner-sized fighter, and began to sift through the wreckage.

'Turn up your outside microphones,' said Heero.

'…sign of it, it must have been completely destroyed.'

'Dammit, oh well, that's one agent down.'

'Details would have been very useful to us.' A reproach.

'Well, let's not waste any more time here, the press will be along soon, and it would bode no good to have our new Galorer fighter splashed over the evening tabloids.'

They all laughed.

**************

The three tailers watched as the Galorer re-cloaked and quite obviously flew away.

They landed close to the wreckage on some grass, so fewer marks would be left.

Duo and Wufei walked over to the shell of the fighter. Wufei busied himself looking for serial numbers, which didn't seem to be there. Duo picked up a piece of the fuselage.

'Looks like it used to be blue, look.' Someone had obviously painted white over the old colour. Heero looked at the fragment. Midnight blue.

'The fighter that shot down the Minister's jet was that colour.'

Duo and Wufei exchanged glances.

'That's real weird, but I mean, come on, what are the odds that this is the same jet?' Duo walked over to where the remaining cannon was still. There appeared to be a flap along the side.

'Hey guys, gimme a hand, there might be something hidden inside,' said Duo, thinking that it may be a compartment. Wufei and Heero helped him, and the panel suddenly came free. All three ducked quickly as spikes shot out and embedded themselves in nearby trees.

'Woah!' cried Duo, but Heero just stared.

Wufei wandered away.

Heero located the door and found it open. He climbed inside. Odd. He knew that the first visitors to the scene hadn't found the remains of the pilot, and that just didn't compute. There was always something left. They must have been blown out of the fighter by the blast…

'Over here!' yelled Wufei.

Wufei had found the pilot. It was a girl.

Her face was cut and blood was dripping down her jaw line. She had been thrown into a bush, which was why she seemed to have survived. Heero checked her pulse and found it stable and strong. Her skin was warm. Her shoulder-length blonde hair was darkened by the blood, which flowed from an unseen head wound. One arm was twisted at an odd angle, but the other arm was clutching something to her chest.

'I'll hazard a guess that that's what they were after,' murmured Duo, and tried to pry it gently from the girl's grip. To his immense surprise, he couldn't pull it free.

He leant down closer to try and claim the object, and got the fright of his life when blue eyes opened and looked straight into his. Gundam pilot or none, that scared the hell outta him.

'Yaargh!' He leapt back.

Heero instinctively reached for his weapon, but managed to stop himself.

The girl groaned softly and tried to push herself up.

'Hey,' said Duo, 'you're in no state to get up.' She ignored him and used a tree to push herself up. She looked around at the three young men.

'What do you want?' she asked. Her voice was cold and quiet.

'Maybe later, we'll wanna ask questions, but right now, we just wanna help. It looks as though your arm's sprained or broken.'

'What do you have that the Galorer wanted?' asked Wufei.

She retrieved the small box.

'This. The in-flight recorder. It's the only thing on the entire ship that can be used to trace me or the makers of my ship…'

As she said this, she turned and looked at her empty wreck of a ship. Duo thought she was going to say something like, 'I'll really miss that ship,' but instead, she said, 'Do you have anything that can either move or completely destroy this?'

Heero felt he could empathise with this girl better than she'd like. Quickly, before she could stop him, he gripped her good arm and pulled it over his shoulder. He began to lead her towards their ships.

*******

Fleur was taken by surprise by Heero's action, but it definitely felt better to be helped along. Her other arm was numb, and she knew it required attention, but she'd have to do that later. Suddenly the ground swirled and she tripped. 

Duo grabbed her other arm, forgetting that it was broken or something. There was an awful kind of squeaky twisted click. Heero looked at the girl. Her face registered pain for a couple of seconds, then became impassive again.

If that was him, he'd've left it at that, but there were some differences between him and this pilot.

'Ok…ow!' she muttered, although she hadn't exclaimed at the time. Duo winced.

'Sorry…err…what's your name?'

She didn't want to answer that.

'What's yours?'

'Clive.'

Her eyes searched his.

'Bullshit.'

*******

'Why were they after you?' It was later, and the four of them were sat in the small house that they used. The girl sat and looked blankly out of the window.

'They don't like me.'

'Fuck!' Duo was getting pissed. He'd tried being subtle, unsubtle, polite, rude, and downright threatening, but he hadn't managed to get a single scrap of information out of the woman. Short of beating her up, there was nothing he could do.

'Remind me why we're bothering…' he growled, addressing the room as a whole.

'If there's a reward on her, it could be useful to us,' said Wufei, looking up from polishing his katana, which he somehow still had.

'If you don't let me go soon, I won't be held responsible for the consequences.' The girl's steely blue eyes bore into Wufei's, who, to his immense shame, had to look away first.

'Why should we believe that? You don't seem to have all that many allies, except that Juno guy.'

Her eyes darkened.

'Don't trust him with anything.'

'What? He's the head of Necsa…'

'Exactly. A spy.'

'You're a spy.'

'Was a spy, but now I'm…' she shrugged, '…nothing.'

  
Heero nodded internally. He knew that feeling.

'Why didn't you put up a fight when we brought you back here?' he asked. Duo looked up in surprise. He hadn't expected Heero to participate much in this.

'I have a broken arm. Besides, I want to help you.'

Silence.

'Then why were you beating round the sodding bush that whole time?' Duo exploded. The girl shrugged.

'I said I wanted to help you, not tell you everything about me.'

'How could you possibly help us?' Wufei positively spat the word 'you'.

'I don't know, but I'm no trouble.'

'You look and sound like trouble,' muttered Duo.

She looked at him.

'You aren't exactly the picture of innocence yourself.' Duo went nuts. He jumped from his chair, but the woman was too quick. She was already over the back of hers with her gun drawn. Even though it was pointed at him, and the design shouldn't have been the dominating fact about it in his brain, Duo stared at it.

'That's a Glock! It's like a hundred years old!' She clicked off the safety.

'It still works, I can assure you. Back off.'

He did so reluctantly, glowering.

'You had no right to say that. You don't know me.'

'I've done a lot of things in my life I'm not proud of, Duo, and I hardly think this is going to make the top ten.'

'What have you done that's so terrible?' asked Heero, as he watched Duo twig that the girl had used his name.

'My job isn't a…wasn't a nice one. I had to trick a lot of decent people. People who didn't deserve to be tricked.'

'Trickery isn't so terrible. It's a useful tool.' Heero again.

'You have no idea of the scale…' she muttered, lowering her weapon.

'How d'you know my name?' asked Duo.

She sighed and flicked her dark blonde hair out of her face.

'I'm a high-ranking Necsa agent, Duo, there isn't much about recent affairs I don't know.'

'The war wasn't that recent,' protested Duo.

'My project drew me very close to the heart of the war.'

'You know all our names?' Wufei this time.

'Yes, I do.'

'And we don't know yours…'

'Yes, you do.'

Duo looked baffled and angry all at once.

'She's right, we do. You're Fleur Tollian, aren't you?' said Heero.

Fleur nodded. 

'I was very surprised when you didn't recognise me after the crash.'

'What the hell made your ship explode like that?' asked Duo. She looked puzzled for a moment.

'A button on the control stick.'

'You blew your ship up?! But why?'

'Otherwise they'd've found me, and what they would've done was a hell of a lot worse that getting almost-blown-up.'

'Who?' Fleur slumped inwardly. _Yeah, who? She didn't know. Problem._

'The people after me. Don't glare, I don't know who they are.'

'What are you going to do?'

'Juno suggested that I contacted you. He had this twisted idea about me helping, even though I knew you'd be dead against it.'

'He's right though, having you could help us,' said Duo suddenly. Everyone looked at him in surprise. He shrank away a little.

'Okay, sorry, perhaps I haven't been telling you guys about all the missions I get patched. I found out about this one way in advance, but I was sure we couldn't do it…but now Fleur's here…' he looked slightly ill, '…we can…'

********

Fleur: What the hell are you talking about Maxwell?

Duo: *points at Vixen* Don't blame me, blame her!

Heero: Where is that god damned lemon?

Vixen: The intro begins in chapter 5.

Duo: Goody.

Fleur: Why am I so traumatised?

Vixen: You'll see. *~_^*

Fleur: -_-

Heero: -_-

Duo: Spooky…

*************

The Truth Part 5

Rating: PG-13

By Vixen Schmixen 

Vixen: Here we go…

Fleur pulled her cardigan around herself more tightly. It was cold on the deck of the ship. Unusually, she felt a jumpiness in her stomach at the thought of this mission. 

It was basically a charade. Two of them slipped aboard the ship at the port, and were destined for a venue very close to Hochcity, but the venue wasn't important, it was what happened while they were aboard that was.

'At last I get a holiday,' she muttered.

They were following a terrorist, on holiday with his girlfriend, and that was the problem. This was a couples-only cruise. No wonder they'd been so damned eager to get her help. She didn't want to do this, really, because it meant that she would have to admit things to herself that she didn't want to. The testing had been bad enough.

But this was what she did. She acted. It was all an act. She'd never, however, acted in a way like she would have to now before.

Heero was no actor. He did what needed to be done 'though, and this needed to be done. The tests had proved that he was best suited to this mission, Wufei having refused bluntly, and Duo saying that the test was the worst thing that he'd ever done. Heero just felt a little sorry for Fleur, having to kiss two people she cared nothing about, for that had been the test as to whether on not they could pull it off.

Heero hadn't said anything when he'd heard that he was going. Kissing Fleur was strange, but it had only been very short, so maybe he hadn't got a good enough idea. Some part of his brain kicked him and said that since they were masquerading as a couple; it might be a good idea to stand on the same side of the ship as her…

Heero walked over to his fake koi and put his arm around her shoulders. She didn't tense up like she had before, but even acknowledged the action with a small smile. Heero felt odd. He had to forcefully override his training, which was screaming at him to push her away, or to move away himself.

'Guess they don't prepare you for stuff like this in basic training…' muttered Fleur, unconsciously leaning against him, and not noticing his sharp intake of breath.

Heero didn't answer. Not for the normal reason, which was he didn't deem it worthy of an answer, but because he was truly lost for words. Just saying 'No,' would have been a lie. This had been covered in his extensive training, but it had been one of the few things that he'd been absolutely…well…crap at.

Fleur watched the endless curl of the waves over the sharp bow of the ship. White at first, then fading to a deep aqua as they impacted with the ocean's deep green-black darkness, and finally disappearing, leaving only a faint foam trail to indicate the previous destination of the vessel. She turned to look at the aforethought of trail, and accidentally leaned more onto Heero's shoulder.

After a while, they unanimously decided to contact Duo. They made their way through the slightly lurching, warm corridors of the ship to their cabin. Heero withdrew the hole-punched plastic 'credit-card' style key from his jeans pocket, placed it in the slot and turned the door handle. As he was doing this, he was increasing aware of Fleur watching him, or rather, his hands. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but shrugged it off. 

Sometimes, having her around made him edgy, and he wasn't sure why, but other times, she was…comforting. He'd never needed comfort before, but, he reasoned, he didn't really NEED it now, seeing as he could survive perfectly well without it. No, what was surprising was how he enjoyed it. He'd never been taught to enjoy himself.

They stepped into the room. Fleur had the misfortune not to notice the raised doorframe, and tripped, lurching towards a nearby cabinet.

Heero spun around and caught her before her head could hit the corner of the unit. She was very light. Her hands grasped for his shoulders to pull herself upright, but then she stopped moving.

Heero glanced at her, and realised that her face was mere centimetres from his. He could feel her breath curling around his neck. She was aware of his arms around her, holding her close to him.

__

He caught me, she thought dumbly, _why would he do that? No one's ever cared that I might hurt myself before…_

Several more seconds passed. Fleur looked stunned, and Heero didn't know what to do. She was warm against him, and he found that he didn't really want to let go. For once, his inner voice had nothing to say. Luckily, they were saved from further embarrassment by Heero's laptop, already set up on a table nearby, which began to bleep in an unignorable fashion. Heero blinked twice, then helped Fleur get back onto her feet, before turning to the computer and saying over his shoulder, 'Mind that doorframe.' 

'Thanks,' replied Fleur quietly, sitting down on the bed.

'Moshi moshi minna!' said Duo cheerfully, as Heero linked onto the message box, 'How's it going?'

'No problems so far,' answered Heero, 'as you know, we were successful in boarding the ship, and we've managed to ear-mark the guy we're after.'

'Good stuff,' said Duo, 'I'll contact you tomorrow, same time, same place…' He pointed OTTly at the screen '…so be there!' The screen went blank. Heero snapped the piece of technology closed.

He turned around and very nearly jumped in fright. Fleur had clambered onto the top of the wardrobe and reaching right over into the corner of the room. She plucked something from where she was reaching and sprang down like a cat. As she proceeded to take apart the miniature camcorder, Heero checked the room for listening devices. There weren't any. That was to be expected. After all, this was a normal passenger ferry, and they needed the camcorders as a simple security device.

****

It was late. Heero lay in bed looking at the ceiling and now that he had time, went over what had gone through his mind earlier when he had caught Fleur. Fleur herself was lying curled up like a small animal at the foot of the bed, the extra sheets from the wardrobe pulled over her. Heero looked at her. As she slept, the worries of her existence were forgotten, and her expression was serene. Her similarities with Relena, facially, were remarkable, and in that split second, Heero figured out why.

__

Her mission, it was to end the war, by creating Relena Darlian. She was never real. Relena was never a real person.

Heero felt strange inside. He'd never cared for Relena, outside of trying to protect her, because he'd never found many of the aspects of her personality attractive, but…

His gaze swept over Fleur again. He'd never been warned against feeling like he did now. No doubt Dr. J would have assumed that his cold exterior would repel any person, but _she was just like him!_

He listened to her breathing for a while, before gradually falling asleep.

******

He awoke early the next morning. The mere movement of his hands to rub his face woke Fleur, who rolled off the end of the bed and stood up, her hair in a mist around her shoulders. She turned to look at her partner.

'Good Morning, did you sleep well?' Heero nodded, and she smiled a little, the first time he'd ever really seen her smile.

'Oh, that's good then.' She proceeded to walk into the tiny bathroom. Heero watched as the door clicked shut, then began to think out what he was going to say to her about what he'd figured out last night.

After a while, (and he hated himself for it,) he decided not to bring it up. Fleur stepped out of the bathroom fully clothed, having changed inside, and motioned that the room was free.

As Heero washed and dressed, he thought some more. No, he needed to mention what he had figured out to Fleur so that she could fill in the gaps. For instance, he pondered as he pulled on his T-shirt, how had she, if she had been masquerading as Relena, managed to survive the jet explosion, and who had shot her down? Had she really killed the entire crew of the jet along with her fictitious character? Why had the Galorer been chasing her? And who had trained her, and when?

Heero came out of the room, and Fleur moved to leave, but he stopped her.

'Wait a second Fleur, I need to talk to you.' She froze, then turned so that her eyes were searching his.

'What about?'

'Your last Necsa assignment.'

Fleur paled, but sat down next to him.

'What do you want to know?'

'Only what I don't already. I realised that you created Relena, and then killed her off when she wasn't needed anymore, but I don't know how you got off that jet, which you must have, because you're here, and who shot the jet down.'

'Well done Heero,' murmured Fleur, lying back against the bed, 'very well done. How did you figure it out?'

'Simple. Your similarity to Relena is so noticeable, that somehow I knew the two of you were one and the same. Also, a few times, you slipped out of your character.'

Fleur's expression remained calm.

'I'm taking it that you mean the time Relena tried to shoot Lady Une?'

'Yes, and the time she flew her jet between two battling MS in Antarctica. Perhaps most of all the time she tried to help me beat down Libra. That wasn't her, was it? It was you.'

'Yes, you're right…' muttered Fleur '…and the jet thing wasn't so hard to pull off, but the concept was ingenious.' 

'How so?'

'The boarding ramp was hollow. There were more steps inside. It wasn't obvious from the ground, but there were black curtains at the doorway. Everyone who boarded simply stepped down into the ramp. I was the only one left on board. I took off and headed straight into the cloud.'

'So the crew were safe…' said Heero, remembering the hostess he'd seen.

'Yes, I didn't want to hurt anyone else. Since the jet was empty, there was plenty of room inside for my fighter.'

'_Your _fighter?'

'Uh huh. I set the jet onto autopilot, and programmed it to accelerate after an interval, so that it would seem as though it was trying to escape. Then I just flew the fighter out of the hatch, just in time for both of us to break out of the cloud, and for me to shoot down the empty plane. I had to do it straight after the plane had taken off, because I knew that you'd start to tail the plane after a few K'

Heero was stunned. It was brilliant. No one had been killed, except Relena. He looked down at Fleur over his shoulder. She was staring at the ceiling. He made up his mind to ask her one more question.

'Fleur?'

'Hm?'

'Why did you make Relena's character so unbearable?'

Fleur laughed bitterly.

'Very simple. I wasn't told to, but I had to make Relena as unattractive to…people…as possible, so that she wouldn't interfere with their affairs…'

Heero knew what she was talking about.

'You mean me, don't you?'

Fleur glanced at him looking at her.

'Yes, I do. Did it work?'

'Yes, it did.'

'Good, so lets go find this guy,' she said briskly, sitting up and walking towards to door. Heero waited a few seconds before following.

__

Yeah, it worked. I couldn't stand Relena. But what about those times that you managed to break through? That was when I found her attractive…

**********

Vixen: Aww kawaii no Heero, you're such a sweetie! *hugs*

Fleur: What is my childhood trauma?

Heero: *is being hugged by Vixen* Mmmph!

Vixen: You two are so sweet together!

Fleur: *glare*

Heero: *glare*

Duo: The way you make them do the same thing at the same time is freaky…

Vixen: *glare*

Duo: Eep!

The Truth Part 6

Rating PG-13

By Vixen Schmixen

It was the end of the cruise. The terrorist was well and truly caught. Fleur had felt a little sorry for his girlfriend, who really didn't have a clue what she'd gotten herself into, and was only a sweet, naïve girl led astray by her dominant partner. When she had caught her eye, however, as she was led away, it hadn't been a hateful glare, rather a wistful glance, sorry that she couldn't have made more of herself. The doors had shut. Fleur knew that she'd never see her again.

Heero felt only satisfaction in a completed mission, or so he thought. It had gone without mishap, and on an unspoken agreement, he and Fleur hadn't kissed since the test, simply because he didn't believe it would've looked realistic. Unfortunately, in that respect, the mission wasn't over.

Even though the thug had been removed, they hadn't revealed their identities, so the pretence was still necessary. Then, on the last night, Duo dropped a bombshell.

'Change of plan.' He sounded tense.

'What do you mean?' Fleur was sprawled on her front on the bed behind Heero, who was sat at the desk, so she was still in the digital camera's view.

'What I mean is, we've discovered that there are gonna be people waiting for you two at the other end. You're gonna have to split up as soon as you get off the ship. People will be watching and listening to everything you say as soon as you get off that ship.'

'No-one on this ship knows who we are,' said Heero.

'They'll be doing it to everyone, so…guys, I can't stress how important this is…you can't give them ANYTHING, not a single reason to make them disbelieve you guys are just a couple going their separate ways.'

'Calm down,' soothed Fleur, rolling off the bed and kneeling on the floor next to Heero with her arms folded on the desk, 'don't forget that this kind of thing was what I did for nearly ten years. You'll get Heero back OK, and I'll contact you a little bit after to let you know I got away fine.'

Duo looked at Fleur for a second. Heero tried not to look at her. Then Duo nodded.

'OK, I believe you. Heero, get to the nearest payphone after you dock, we'll trace the call and come and get you.'

Heero nodded. Duo looked at Fleur across the connection.

'You dare screw this up…'

'Noted,' snapped Fleur, and got up and left. Heero glanced after her briefly, but Duo noticed it.

'You watch out for her buddy, she's trouble. You'd do well to avoid her.' Heero didn't know what to say, so he just nodded.

The connection went blank, and Heero shut the computer.

**

He found Fleur on deck. He wanted to just walk up to her and take her hand, like he was supposed to be acting, like it was no big deal, but it was a big deal. Was Duo right? Kami…

'Fleur?' She didn't turn around.

'Yes?'

'You're the expert, what are we going to do when we get into port tomorrow?'

Fleur was touched that he had relented to ask her, instead of letting his pride get in the way. She was very surprised when he put his arm around her as he spoke again.

'Ignore Duo, I always do.'

She looked at him in surprise. Had he just made fun of Duo? She realised that he was looking back at her, searching for approval or a dismissal. She smiled.

'I'll do that…' She noticed that his arm around her relaxed a little '…and about tomorrow. I won't lie to you…' _Anymore _she added silently, '…because I don't think you'll enjoy it much. I think it would be best if you kissed me again. According to what Duo said, we're going to have to make up some story about why we're going separate ways, and talk about it so it can be heard. Sound sensible so far?'

'Uh huh,' said Heero, sliding his other arm around her waist and resting his head against her shoulder, 'sounds like it could work. One thing though. I'm not a good actor.'

Fleur tried to concentrate on answering instead of the feeling of having him so close to her.

'Th-that's fine…' she rallied and carried on, '…you're improving all the time. At this rate you'll be able to give me lessons soon.'

Her heart sank as she realised the implications of what she'd said. This was, after all, an act. Heero didn't care for her, he was just getting better at pretending that he did, and soon, he wouldn't have to. It wasn't fair. She was sure that they'd trained him the same way as she'd been. A mix of hard training and simple abuse. She shuddered at the memory. Was this why she could empathise so well with him? She didn't want to lose him. Unconsciously, she reached out and took one of his hands. Strictly speaking, she'd never had him to start with. 

Heero gently laced his fingers with Fleur's. 

__

I wonder what she's thinking about. Why did I never realise that underneath her character, she was such an amazing person? Why didn't I see through Relena straightaway? I was trained to do that! Goddamnit, I'm such a fool. I just wish that she felt the same way about me…

'C'mon,' said Heero gently, 'it's getting cold out here.'

Fleur stirred herself, and a thought suddenly struck her. As they entered back into the muggy warmth of the ship, Fleur asked quietly, 'Have you ever really kissed someone before, Heero?' Heero blinked.

'N-No…err…never.'

__

Here's my training kicking in, thought Fleur miserably.

'Well, in that case, it may be a good idea…to get an idea, if you see what I mean.'

Heero reeled inwardly. _She wants me to practice!? She wants me to practice kissing her!? Well…I suppose it's sensible…that's lucky…I guess I couldn't do it if it weren't sensible, right?_

He was shocked to find that he was nodding. Fleur caught his eye, and took in the slightly bemused glance instantly.

__

Oh god…He agreed! Calm down girl…It's necessary, you said so yourself. God…if only he cared for me…

Suddenly, just as they reached the ship's restaurant, the ship gave a terrible lurch. They both managed to keep their balance, but just above them, a huge stack of plates began to slide towards the edge of their shelf. Fleur looked up.

__

Move, MOVE! Her legs weren't working. She was too tired to move. Her mind, normally so quick and agile, was listless. She'd given her psyche a beating over the last few days, and it was finally gonna let her down. She was going to get hit by whatever fell off that shelf.

Heero watched. Fleur appeared to have fallen asleep while standing totally upright. If she didn't move soon then…

Guided purely by instinct, he grabbed Fleur around the waist and pulled her quickly away from where she was rooted to the spot. One thought had gone through his mind just before he'd moved.

__

I'll lose to a Leo before I let anything hurt Fleur.

He held Fleur close to him as the plates shattered, his arms protectively around her. A few people clapped, but all he wanted to do was get Fleur away from them. He hoisted her up so he was carrying her, and walked quickly away.

***

Fleur's head was swimming. She opened her eyes. She was back in her room. Her hand flew to her head. No bump, no pain. Had she dreamt the entire thing? She glanced around. Heero was knelt next to the bed. As soon as he saw her eyes were open, he gently placed the back of his hand to her forehead.

'Are you alright?' he asked quietly.

__

We're in our room, thought Fleur, _He's not acting now…_

'Yes…Thank you…'

'What happened?'

'I couldn't move…I was too tired…Did they miss me?'

'Yes…they did…' muttered Heero. In that second Fleur knew what had happened.

__

That's twice he's stopped me from being hurt.

Fleur rolled up, her head suddenly clear. Heero's face registered surprise as she put her hands on his shoulders.

'Thank you. No one's ever cared about me getting hurt.' Her voice was low and soft.

Heero looked up at her.

'But when you were Relena…' then he stopped. She had never been Relena; it had been an act. No one had ever cared for Fleur, the person inside.

She knew she didn't have to correct him. He looked at her sadly. 

Fleur knew she had to do it now or she'd never have the nerve. 

'You can beat it,' she whispered, leaning closer to him.

'Wh-what?' stumbled Heero, as he moved towards her as well.

She paused.

'I know you have it, just like me. The little voice always saying, 'Push them away, don't let them in.' They implanted it in us when we were trained. Just one of the evil things they did, remember?'

Heero did, and he saw now for the first time that his inner voice wasn't him at all, and he could disable it.

He looked up and met Fleur's gaze again. She smiled slowly, realising that he'd followed her advice.

Heero knelt up quickly and slid his arms around her waist, pulling her against him. Their faces were level, centimetres apart.

'I can,' he whispered, noticing the effect his action had had on Fleur's heartbeat, 'I can beat it.'

She gave a little sob and closed the gap between them quickly, gently touching her lips to his. A jolt of electricity ran down Heero's spine. This was different from the test. Heero could feel what she was feeling. He moved his hand up to touch her face, and she leant forward again, pressing her lips more firmly against his. Heero broke away briefly to get some air, but the action caused Fleur to overbalance and fall off the bed.

She rolled onto her back and was about to get up when a weight across her middle stopped her. Heero leant down and began to kiss down her neck, his hands on her wrists. Fleur moaned as his kisses burned down towards her shoulder. She pulled a hand free and found his neck, pulling his lips back to hers. 

Heero shied away slightly as she flicked her tongue against his lips, and Fleur felt it. She stopped and pulled back so she could look him in the eye. 

'Heero, are you OK?' She wasn't surprised to see tears in his eyes as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled them both back up.

For a while they both sat there, cherishing having someone who cared about them for the first time in their lives. Fleur gently rubbed Heero's shoulders as he clung onto her.

'It's OK,' she whispered after a while, 'I'm not going anywhere right now. I'm sorry, did I scare you?'

Heero thought about it. Yes, he supposed she had.

'I'm…' he drew in a deep breath, '…I don't really know what to do…'

'Nothing. Don't do anything that doesn't come naturally, I mean it.'

It made sense. Heero nuzzled her neck gently, and Fleur drew her fingers through his hair, moaning slightly as Heero began to kiss her neck again, and inwardly rejoicing that he'd found one of her most sensitive spots. 

Heero felt slightly ashamed of his previous action when she had tried to kiss him, so decided to try again. He leant away from her neck and kissed her soundly, flicking his tongue against her lips like she had done to him, and hoping that she would take the lead.

She did. Sliding her arms around him she slipped her tongue into his mouth.

He was surprised at the feeling, but instantly decided that he liked it. He battled gently with her tongue as he slid his hand down to rest on her hip.

She pulled away. She didn't want to go any further, not until Heero understood exactly what he'd be doing if he did.

Heero looked slightly disappointed, but she smiled, leant forward and rubbed her nose gently against his. The soft touch tickled slightly, and Heero liked it. He looked up into Fleur's eyes. They weren't steely and cold like they could be, but soft and deep. 

'What time is it?' asked Fleur, leaning forward and resting her head on his chest. Heero checked his watch.

'About 2324,' he answered. Fleur laughed.

'About 2324? Surely that's 2324 then?' Heero thought.

'Yeah, I guess it is.' He smiled down at the girl in his arms. She yawned, and stretched slightly while remaining in his embrace.

'We'd better go to bed then,' said Heero.

'Yeah…' yawned Fleur, and broke away to go and get changed in the bathroom.

When she returned, she didn't curl up at the end like she had for that last few days, but she slid in next to Heero, who immediately put his arms around her and drew her into a hug. Safe in each others arms, Fleur and Heero drifted off to sleep.


End file.
